Extended Thanks
by Chibi Honda Chan
Summary: One-Shot, *may* continue. Alternate Universe. A man meets an old friend in a bar, after three years, and tries to change the way of life his friend has chosen.


Pointless, long One-Shot Story, featuring the de-bastardization of underrated characters  
  
~Extended Thanks~  
  
He had silvery hair pulled back into a loose ponytail. Two thick strands hung in front of his ears, framing his face. One amber eye sparkled in the florescent lighting. The other had a thick black eye patch over it. He sighed and scoured the bar for the person he was to meet. Shouldn't be too hard to find.  
  
It's not like that type of man is inconspicuous in life.  
  
After a glance around the bar, disappointment struck the man. It appeared his friend wasn't coming after all. Then what was the use of the meeting? He wanted to try to stop this, make it easier on himself, but if he couldn't even talk about it to the person who caused him the trouble in the first place, what was the use?  
  
His black trenchcoat billowed behind him as he approached the counter. He set himself on one of the stools and slammed his head against the counter none-too-gracefully. His black-gloved hand drummed on the counter, as if the man were waiting for something.  
  
The man next to him peered over. "You looking for something?" he asked.  
  
The silver haired man shook his head weakly. "Unless this place serves something that can knock you out after one swig, I'm just using space." He was convinced that his "friend" wasn't coming.  
  
"What, naturally or something?" asked the man again.  
  
The silver-haired man scowled. "I don't care. Sleeping pills, a strong vodka, a gun, something to take me out!"  
  
The man next to him only scoffed and walked off, his heavy black boots thudding dully against the hardwood floor. His place was quickly taken by a different person, this one no older than 16. His brown hair was pulled up into one solid spike, which sat over his eyes. A smirk played on his lips.  
  
"Bartender!" he cried out, slamming his fist against the counter. "Gimme a Virgin Mary!" A quick grunt acknowledged the newcomer and that his demands were being attended to.  
  
The amber-eyed man on the stool looked up. "A Virgin Mary? What's that?"  
  
"A Bloody Mary without the vodka," answered the newcomer. He turned his head slightly towards the silver-haired man. The smirk deepened slightly. His eyes were covered with thick black sunglasses.  
  
"I expected you to say, 'without the blood,'" answered the silver-haired man curtly.  
  
"What's life without a little bit of blood?"  
  
The man smirked at the teen. "How true..."  
  
Silence befell the two of them, although life in the bar continued. Men drank, hit on the waitresses, played cards, swore, and basically lived. But every bit of action between the one-eyed man and the spike-haired boy was killed.  
  
Briefly, at least. The man had found the one person he wanted to talk to. The person next to him, waiting on his non-alcoholic Bloody Mary, was just the person he had wanted to see. But how to start the conversation?  
  
"Chounomi?" he asked. "Interesting name. And quite fitting for your profession. What does it mean again? Sea of blood? Clever."  
  
The man beside him did not lose the smirk on his face. "It was either that or Kyoushu, but that was a lot more obvious. I mean, walking around, calling yourself 'assassin?' People'll *know* you're up to something."  
  
"But 'sea of blood?' I find that a lot more suspicious than 'assassin.'"  
  
"For all you know, I could work at Red Cross."  
  
The amber-eyed man shifted nervously in his seat. "It didn't have to be like this, Honda," he whispered. "How'd you let yourself sink to this level?"  
  
"Sarry!" cried the bartender's voice suddenly. "We're outta tamata juice!"  
  
"Thanks anyway!" bid Honda, not wavering with his smirk. "But what *do* you have?"  
  
"Vodka."  
  
"Gimme some of that!" Honda answered.  
  
As the bartender readied Honda's vodka, the amber-eyed man glared at the boy. "I thought you didn't want vodka," he frowned.  
  
"Take what you can get," shrugged the boy in reply. "You want anything, Pegasus?"  
  
Pegasus shook his head. "I'd rather not."  
  
"Not a drinker anymore?"  
  
"Not since two years ago."  
  
"So, you only came here to see me? How sweet," joked Honda.  
  
Pegasus rolled his eye. The boy beside him laughed at the older man's actions. The man glanced at the teen.  
  
"Oh, your arm..." he said, pointing to the boy's left side.  
  
Honda shrugged. "It's just fine," he said, rubbing his right hand over the smooth metal. "It's been treating me well over the years."  
  
"You don't say..."   
  
A glass slid over to Honda on the table. The teen accepted it graciously and drank down the glass. When he set it down again, only a quarter of the glass of vodka remained. Pegasus stared bemusedly at the glass.  
  
Pegasus raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you underage?"  
  
Honda set the glass down heavily. "They look the other way if you pay enough."   
  
Pegasus rolled his eye again. "Honda, why'd you let it get to this level?" he asked again.  
  
Honda sighed thoughtfully. "You should know that, Pegasus." He smirked simply, taking another draught of vodka. "You were there."  
  
Pegasus elbowed Honda immaturely. "Do you have to remind me?"  
  
Honda only nodded and slammed his empty vodka glass against the counter. "Barkeep!" he shouted. "Gimme another vodka!"  
  
The bartender whisked away the glass and refilled it almost immediately. Honda accepted the glass again.  
  
"Nice to see this place knows enough to respect me," Honda mused before raising the glass to his lips and taking a long drink. He glanced at Pegasus quickly. "They *do* have wine here, y'know. It's not like one glass can get you wasted. I remember how you used to be."  
  
"I'm not here to drink," chided Pegasus. "I'm here because I knew you'd be here, Honda. And I wanted to ask you why you let yourself slip so far."  
  
Honda shrugged the comment off before downing half of the vodka in the glass.  
  
"It was one person, Honda," Pegasus snapped. "The two thousand whom you've crossed did not need to die for him!"  
  
"Don't tell me you're after me, too?" Honda mused, setting down his glass. "Funny. Very funny, Pegasus."  
  
"Why's it so funny?"  
  
Honda only sighed again and took another drink. "You're one of the people that handed my fate to me on a silver platter."  
  
"If I'd have known you'd take it this far..."  
  
"It wasn't supposed to happen," Honda said, still sounding as calm as ever. "You know very well why the hell it got this far. You knew about me, so I didn't expect you to---"  
  
"What I did was a mistake!" Pegasus yelled, standing up and scaring quite a few people in the bar. "I never should have agreed to it!"  
  
Honda finished off his vodka and stood up, to match the taller man's actions. "Nice meeting you again, Pegasus," he said. "Maybe next time, we'll meet when you're a little less angry at me."  
  
"Honda, you're mad!" snarled Pegasus. "If you think I can ever forgive you for all of this---"  
  
"I didn't say you should." Honda smirked again. "I said when you're a little less angry, not when you've forgiven me."  
  
Pegasus growled and stalked out of the bar. Honda's smirk still played on his lips as he sat down again. "Barkeep!" he called out. "Hit me!"  
  
Honda was answered with the barrel of a gun pointed at his forehead.  
  
~~~  
  
"That little... " Pegasus growled lowly. A small smirk found itself on his face. "I'm afraid I'll never understand that kid. Nice one second, then wh---"  
  
Gunshots interrupted Pegasus's train of thought. He quickly snapped his head back towards the bar. A lone man frantically rushed from the bar, shouting loud curses as he did. "Honda..." Pegasus whispered, his eye growing wide upon acknowledging his friend.  
  
To acknowledge Pegasus, Honda quickly saluted him before shooting off into the distance. Pegasus made himself scarce just as more crowds of people ran out of the bar on Honda's tail. Pegasus bemusedly watched the foolish men. Honda was physically impossible to take down. Try as they might, Honda would jus---  
  
"You!" cried one man, pointing at Pegasus. So they had seen him, after all. "You were talking to him!"  
  
"So?" Pegasus shrugged nonchalantly. "He's... an old friend of mine."  
  
"To hell with that excuse!" cried another man. "I'll bet you're in the same league as him!"  
  
And before Pegasus knew what was coming to him, three guys had him caught and carted off to the nearest police office. Pegasus blinked.  
  
'Strange what knowing the wrong people will do for you,' he mused as he was hastily shoved into the cramped police office. There, he was slammed into a chair to wait for his sentence.  
  
Impatiently tapping his foot, the silver-haired man stared around the station. The white-washed walls were bare, and it was just about the least friendly-looking place he had ever been in. However, Pegasus knew he had been in a less-friendly environment once before. When he had first met Honda, in fact...  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of heavy boots hitting the floor. Pegasus turned his head sharply to look at another man. This one looked out of place in this city. He had dirty blonde hair, hidden underneath a bandana resembling the American flag. His dark glasses hid his eyes, and, for the most part, his emotions. The man looked unkempt, from his clothes to even the slight signs of a beard growing. Even through his dark glasses, Pegasus could see that the man was tired.  
  
"You were friends with him once, weren't you?" the newcomer asked the amber-eyed man.  
  
"Him, being...?"  
  
"You know very well who I mean. Hiroto Honda. The teen with 65 billion on his head."  
  
"Once," frowned Pegasus. "I haven't seen him in four years... Before tonight," he added as an after note. "But it was a short talk. I wanted to get my work done in a somewhat-peaceful place."  
  
"You told me you wanted something to take you out," the man smirked in reply.  
  
Pegasus blinked. "That was *you?*"  
  
The man nodded. "What did you really want?"  
  
"I wanted to talk to Honda," Pegasus answered. "I knew he'd be there tonight. I wanted to try to make him change his ways, make him stop all of this foolishness. What he's doing is greatly affecting my work. I thought if he'd stop his way of life, it'd benefit both of us."  
  
"Then why did you want something to take you out?" asked the man.  
  
"I told you his work cut into my job. I'm swamped." Pegasus chuckled a bit to himself. "Maybe our little talk tonight would benefit me more than him. I need a break from all of this. I was upset that I didn't see Honda at the bar, so I was ready to give myself the break, definitely or indefinitely. I changed my mind when Honda took your spot after you left."  
  
"And for the record, state your name."  
  
Pegasus blinked again. "I'm being interrogated? But I didn't do anything! A bunch of drunk morons---"  
  
"State your name. That's all I ask."  
  
"Pegasus J. Crawford," sighed the agitated man.  
  
"Now wait here. I might be able to get you off," the man nodded, as he made to walk away. Pegasus nodded and stared up at the clock.  
  
"This won't take long, will it?" he asked. "I mean, now that Honda's back in the city again..."  
  
"It depends on whether or not the people here will let me talk."  
  
~~~  
  
Apparently, it took a while for the man's message to get through the thick skulls of the policemen. It was near morning by the time Pegasus was finally approached again, this time by the chief of police.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said. "You may go now."  
  
"... That's it?" Pegasus asked. "You kept me waiting half a day to say, 'Goodbye?'"  
  
The chief of police blushed in embarrassment. "The bounty hunter you sent in to talk to us---"  
  
"I didn't send a bounty hunter," Pegasus interjected, confused to no end.  
  
"Then why was Bandit Keith vouching for you?"  
  
Pegasus's eye widened in surprise. "That was Bandit Keith I spoke to last night?"  
  
"Yeah, the coldest bounty hunter this side 'a the planet," the chief nodded. "You must've paid him a shitload of money to get him to vouch for you."  
  
Pegasus shook his head. "He came in and started talking to me. He did this all on his own."  
  
The chief was confused to no end. "... Whatever," he harrumphed. "Just go now. We have another case. It could be big for this little police HQ!"  
  
Pegasus's interest was piqued. "What case?"  
  
"People're saying they have Chounomi captured," the chief smiled. "Trapped in the alleys of the city. Dead end, and they requested backup! This could be the big break we're looking for!"  
  
Pegasus bowed slightly. "I wish you luck in your human hunt." As he left, he added to himself, "Because I doubt you'll find him."  
  
~~~  
  
"You're fucking crazy!" cried the man.  
  
Pegasus shook his head. "It can't be that hard of a job for you. From what I hear, you take your job seriously."  
  
"Yes, but this is suicide, what you're asking," frowned the man. "You want me to find him, but if what you say is true, it's impossible to catch this guy!"  
  
"I know a way to catch him," Pegasus replied. "Chounomi's target is nearby."  
  
"... So?"  
  
"I want you to go to his house. I don't want you to try to stop him from killing the man, although it would make my job easier... No. Just bring Chounomi to me."  
  
The man raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to snake me out of collecting the bounty?"  
  
"I'll pay you double the bounty if you can pull this off."  
  
"And I trust you'll stay true to your word?"  
  
"Of course," nodded Pegasus. "I've never broken a promise before."  
  
"And what makes you so sure he won't kill me?"  
  
"He only kills... certain people," Pegasus trailed off. "You don't fit the description."  
  
"What kind of people does he kill?"  
  
Pegasus only shook his head. "I can't tell you. Sworn to secrecy."  
  
The man rolled his eyes, but started off.  
  
~~~  
  
It paid to know the city by heart. In truth, Chounomi was there for an entire week before he actually did anything to stir trouble. He was browsing the streets for his target. He knew exactly who he was gunning for in the city, and he couldn't let the man get away. And besides, he had taken half of the week to memorize the city streets and backways.  
  
An interesting fact about this particular city: in one way or another, there are no dead ends.  
  
A quick dash up the fire escape taught that to every bystander, and Chounomi was free to roam around on the roof. Most people had gone inside the building to try to catch him on the roof. The brunet assassin simply slipped back onto the fire escape and leapt through the closest window. He had planned an escape a day ago. A thick board, sturdy enough for him to walk on, long enough to reach the other house, waited for him right by the window.  
  
And by the time the other people of the city found out Chounomi had left the roof, he was already back on the streets, scoping out his target.  
  
Each of the people in that league had to die.  
  
They would suffer.  
  
And the only forgiveness they will receive should be divine retribution.  
  
That's how Chounomi saw his targets. On the job, the brunet's joking personality faded. He became stern and serious. Persistent and quick, Chounomi did his job well. On the job, he wasn't Hiroto Honda, the joking, upbeat, kind guy you'd hope to befriend. He became your worst enemy. A dark shadow, searching for personal satisfaction.  
  
And Chounomi's satisfaction came from watching those who have wronged him suffer.  
  
He found his target. To his dismay, he was with somebody. A woman... Three kids... Probably his family. But Chounomi was a specialist. He only killed the person he was after. And never when the family was around. He prefered it when those close to the target discovered their dead love hours later. So what if the person's family had to suffer with the loss of their father/husband? Death was worse. And families of these people didn't deserve death.  
  
His family had been torn apart, after all. He had to suffer. Why not make the people in this family endure what he went through?  
  
Chounomi waited for hours in the shadows before the family left for somewhere. Supermarket? Soccer game? It didn't matter. The target was alone.  
  
The golden-grey eyed assassin slipped into the house by a window left carelessly opened. He cocked the gun - loaded before he had started the job. The man was sitting in a red recliner, reading the newspaper. Blissfully unaware. Chounomi held his gun up to the target's head. The last thing the ignorant man would hear was the gunshot.  
  
However, Chounomi never got much further than putting a touch of pressure on the trigger.  
  
Chounomi felt the cold chill of metal against his own head, and heard a separate click. He turned around, only slightly. It was a blonde man, hair hidden beneath a bandana. A smirk crossed the unknown man's face.  
  
"I knew you'd be here, Chounomi," he said. "Lower your gun. You're coming with me."  
  
Chounomi spat bitterly, but put the gun back on his belt. The man said nothing else, only motioned where he wanted the young assassin to go by pointing in the desired direction with his own pistol. Chounomi reluctantly followed, bitter about having to abort the mission.  
  
The newcomer ignored the thanks of the desired target and simply led Chounomi away.  
  
~~~  
  
"You're saying you trust me?" Honda mused. "It's not something anybody does easily, especially not after every person I hit."  
  
"You won't kill me," laughed Keith. "You're only after a certain group of people. And I'm not one whom you're hunting."  
  
Honda's eyes widened in shock. "Who told you?"  
  
"A friend of yours," shrugged the bounty hunter. "Silver hair, eye patch..."  
  
Honda fell into a silent rage. How could Pegasus have told *this* man?! After he sworn, four years ago, nobody'd know?! Honda frowned miserably. He'd have to kill this bounty hunter... Then Pegasus.  
  
... No. He couldn't kill Pegasus. Not him. Honda had something to do for Pegasus before he killed him. He'd probably give Pegasus a month's notice before he killed him, anyway.  
  
"Turn here," ordered Keith.  
  
Honda turned. He knew Keith was going to turn him into the police station. Unless he killed him first. Honda let himself be walked a certain distance before he whirled around, pointing his own gun at Keith's forehead.  
  
"You know too much," he said, his eyes gaining a very scary and determined look. "I can't let you live. I won't let you turn me in before my mission is completed."  
  
"Do you think killing him is so important?" mused a familiar voice.  
  
Honad turned his head to Pegasus. "It's you, you fucking traitor!" he growled.  
  
Pegasus simply cocked his head. "I only told him a little bit. I didn't tell him who, specifically, you were hunting. I didn't tell him why you're hunting them. In comparison to normal man, he's only a bit more intelligent. Even the society's catching up to him, however. Eventually, they'll be smarter than him."  
  
Keith frowned. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."  
  
Honda did not look amused. "So you two plotted against me, just for a little bit of money?"  
  
"I wanted to warn you," Pegasus said. "You have to leave the city as soon as possible. These people will find you if you stay. Call me crazy for letting you off, but call it a favor from one person to the next."  
  
"You're not turning me in, then?" asked Honda in confusion.  
  
"Nope," Pegasus smiled. "Maybe some other time."  
  
Honda turned to Keith. "Aren't you "Bandit" Keith Howard? The bounty hunter who captured half a dozen bounty heads in two weeks?"  
  
Keith nodded.  
  
"How'd you get the name?"  
  
"Too good at my job. Almost as if I stole the bounty from headquarters."  
  
"And why'd you help bring me here, if not for the bounty?"  
  
"Pegasus said he'd pay me double," Keith smiled.  
  
"... Okay..."  
  
"Pegasus, I must leave. Please, pay me before the month is over," said Keith simply, turning to leave. But as he left, Honda stopped him.  
  
"Wait..." he said. "Maybe it's time to educate the masses. If you can be sworn to secrecy."  
  
"I'd kill myself before I share the secret," Keith promised.  
  
"Okay," Honda nodded.  
  
"You sure you want to tell him?" Pegasus asked.  
  
"He's a nice enough guy," Honda nodded. "So why not?"  
  
Keith snorted.  
  
"I'm hunting those of the Red Target," Honda told Keith after glancing around to make sure nobody else was eavesdropping. "They killed somebody who is... was... very close to me. Like a brother to me. I want the entire group to experience divine retribution. See if God forgives them."  
  
"The Red Target?!" gasped Keith in disbelief. "They disbanded a year ago!"  
  
"Because of me," Honda smirked. "I infiltrated their offices and killed at least a thousand men. They knew I was there and separated, on fear that they all would suffer. Before they disbanded, however, I broke into the offices and stole the majority of the paperwork. I know where they all live, what they look like. Even if they moved, I would find them. Every single one of them have to die."  
  
"All this work for a death streak?" mused Keith. "You're the hardest working assassin I've ever come across."  
  
"Compared to some of the masters, my work is chicken shit," Honda answered ernestly. "I think you might've pulled one or two of them in."  
  
"I don't doubt that."  
  
"Should I... be going now?" Honda asked suddenly. "I think I've talked long enough."  
  
"That's right," Pegasus laughed. "We've kept you here long enough. I'll see you in a couple of years, Honda."  
  
Honda nodded happily. "Maybe we'll meet on a happier note then, Pegasus."  
  
"And hopefully," Keith said. "We will meet again, Honda, when I'm not on the job."  
  
"I'll pray for the day," Honda nodded.  
  
"I thought you were an athiest?" Pegasus asked. "Sorry, a bit off-topic, but I never knew you as one to even say that sort of thing."  
  
"Have to find some heavenly thing to help you pull through," Honda shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't approve of me, but I've learned to start praying."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"That the people who are hunting me don't find me, that whoever the hell's up there can forgive me, the usual."  
  
Pegasus rolled his eye.  
  
"Honda," Keith said. "This might kill my job, but I want you to follow me out of town. The people of this city are in an uproar. We just got lucky when we met nobody. Give it five minutes, and you'd be in the hands of the police station here if you stay here."  
  
Honda nodded. "Sounds good to me. My job isn't finished. Maybe I'll let you turn me in when I'm finished."  
  
"That's just talking stupid," Keith smirked. "They're saving a place on the Death Row for you, Chounomi."  
  
Honda shrugged. "I know. Perhaps I'll meet *them* again."  
  
"Them? The Red Target people?"  
  
"Yeah. I'm going to burn in hell, regardless of how much I beg to God," Honda grinned. "Maybe I can write letters to heaven." Honda played with a stray wire on his robotic arm. "Or maybe even drop by to say hi to---"  
  
Honda stopped as the sounds of feet slapping against the sidewalk registered to him.  
  
"Oh, shit," he cursed.  
  
Keith grabbed Honda's metallic wrist and started dragging him away. "C'mon, you. We better get you the hell outta this place before they see the both of us."  
  
"Bye bye, Pegasus!" Honda laughed, waving. He looked up at Keith. "Are you more concerned about my well-being or your job?"  
  
"Take a wild guess," Keith snapped in reply.  
  
They turned the corner and were abruptly out of sight. Pegasus thought for a second, bemusedly. He ran out onto the sidewalk suddenly.  
  
"Quick!" he shouted. "Chounomi's headed for Central Avenue!"  
  
The people quickly darted off in the other direction, looking for an intersection to take them to Central Avenue. Meanwhile, Pegasus knew Honda and Keith'd travel the backroads. Keith had shown him the path he wished to take Honda down when they were to escape. It was a shabby path. The road not taken. Pegasus would be amazed if anybody had ever bothered to look down there.  
  
Pegasus walked back to his hotel slowly. Many people had come up to him, asking if he knew where Chounomi was. He gave the same excuse every time: Central Avenue.  
  
When he made it back to his hotel room, he could not at first believe the sight that met his eyes. A spiked-head, golden-grey eyed boy was sitting on his bed, a copy of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Part I clutched in his robotic arm. Honda turned his head up towards Pegasus."   
  
"Hi," he said, nodding. "I just started reading this a couple of months ago. And I'm still on page 36. It's intimidating, Pegasus!"  
  
Pegasus's eye twitched. "Shouldn't you be running away from this city for your dear life?"  
  
Honda shook his head. "I forgot to do something."  
  
"Kill your target?"  
  
"No," Honda said. "It was good luck Keith stopped me. It wasn't my target in the recliner. It was the wife's new boyfriend. The husband died a month ago in a car crash. The Bandit told me before I stopped here."  
  
"Smart guy, that one is," Pegasus mused.  
  
"I got you something," Honda said. "Check the hotel room Bible."  
  
Pegasus did, walking up to the worn Bible by his bedside and picking it up. He flipped up the cover. The pages opened up to a thick wad of bills.  
  
"Ever hear the bible story about the King and the servant?" Honda asked. "The servant owed the King a ton of money. When the King asked him for the money, the servant begged for the King to let him go, so he did. Later, the servant met another servant who owned him a couple of bucks, which the other guy didn't have. The servant went all-out on the other guy. The King saw the servant, scolded him, and put him in jail until he could pay off his debt, since the first servant couldn't forgive the small amount of money the second servant owned him."  
  
Pegasus stared at Honda in confusion.  
  
"I was like the servant who owed money to the King," Honda continued. "You're the King. Correct me if I got the story wrong. I didn't actually read it before I slipped in the money I owed you."  
  
The silver-haired man laughed. "Honda, that story's about forgiveness," he explained. "It's symbolic. It shows that to be forgiven by God, you have to forgive others. It's not a true story, it's a parable."  
  
"I told you I didn't read it."  
  
Pegasus smirked. "And I told you before, Honda, you owe me nothing."  
  
"And I told you," Honda repeated. "I owe you big time. 45,000 dollars, in cash. I picked up stray bills for the longest time."  
  
"You mean you robbed the people you killed?"  
  
"Only if they had their wallets on them."  
  
"I thought you were an assassin, not a pick-pocket."  
  
"That's beyond the point. I got you the money I owed you. We're even."  
  
Pegasus shook his head. "If I may quote from Keith, you're fucking crazy."  
  
"Maybe," Honda shrugged. "But I couldn't let it slip. I mean, the thing was awesome. It still is. It's a pain in the ass to clean, but it's been working just fine for all these years. I have to pay you for the mechanical arm, Doc."  
  
Pegasus shook his head again. "I let you off free since I know you went through a lot. Why bother paying me for a favor?"  
  
"I have a conscience," Honda replied.  
  
"Try telling that to the families of the poeple you killed."  
  
"I have a conscience, but I never said Chounomi did." Honda sighed.  
  
"I guess that explains why you're doing all of the killing. Why bother hiding under the name Chounomi? I know how you kill your targets. It's not like I need the autopsy reports of the ex-members of the Red Targets to know you did them in. There's been a lot of those recently, as well..."  
  
"I told you this had to be done. You know why." Honda stood up. "Well, it was nice getting that weight off of my chest, but I must go. Keith said he'd only give me ten minutes before he bounded up here, went back on his word, and dragged me to the police station, demanding the bounty. Impatient bastard." The brunet headed for the window. "Sayonara, Doctor Crawford." With that, he jumped onto the fire escape, never to be seen in the town again.  
  
Pegasus stared at the bills again and put them back into the Bible. He set it down again, laughing to himself.  
  
"Honda," he said. "You truly are an idiot."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Long story, no? (Longer than what I'd write, anyway...) Well, it was intended for a one-shot, but I guess, if some people like it, I can continue it... 


End file.
